The Stash Faery and other meanderings...

I don't know where the time has gone... I am sorry I've been MIA for over a week now and I feel like I am falling so behind with everything... It's been a rough two weeks dealing with my Fibro and RA... It can be such a royal pain in the bum at times... There have been other life issues I am dealing with... and I won't bore you with them at this time... suffice it to say... the lot of it has been akin to a dark, gloomy cloud following me around... and I so long for a wee bit of sunshine and laughter in my life... They say... don't ask me who they is... the experts I suppose... anyway *They* say... we make our own happiness... And if that be the case, will someone please send me the recipe and clue me in! Alas, c'est la vie... Nonetheless... enough gloom and doom...

On a brighter note... I finally got around to taking some piccys of the rest of my Birthday Stash... The Stash Faery was Oh, so very kind and dropped it off whilst I was sleeping one night... ;-) Imagine my surprise to awaken and find such lovely treasures... I must say, I thought I was caught up in the midst of some fantastical dream... And perhaps I am... who is to say? I have no idea what I will start first... between this batch and the last batch of stash... not to mention what's stashed away in my stitching chest... there are so many lovely projects to dream about and such lovely threads and fabrics to fondle... It's all quite mind boggling to say the least, and I oftentimes find myself aimlessly adrift in stitching heaven... Oh, whatever shall I stitch next? For someone who has trouble making up her mind over the slightest thing... it can be quite a dilemma at times... I know Hazel and I are supposed to start our A Most Noble Pursuit SAL in a few weeks... so I'd better find some magic needles and get on with my WIP's so I won't feel so guilty starting something new... and then there are my secret projects I've got to finish... Oh, so much to stitch... so little time... Once again, the image of the White Rabbit comes to mind and I can see myself trotting along, pocket watch in hand... all a'dither... and oh, so dreadfully lost in my own wee world...

So, without further ado... a wee glimpse into my stitching chest... more precious than a Dragon's hoard of treasures... And needless to say... I guard my stitching treasures much akin to a dragon... ;-)

Collaboration Sampler - A Most Noble Pursuit...

Carriage House Samplings - Hopeful ...

Carriage House Samplings...

Elijah's Angel and The Tulip Patch

Carriage House Samplings...

Molly and Withering Tulips

Carriage House Samplings...

The Song They Sang and Be My Love

Blackbird Designs...

Easter Parade, Spring's Promise

and Blessings Be Thine ...

Blackbird Designs...

Fond Hearts, Sweetheart Sampler and Evergreen ...

Blackbird Designs...

Quaker Garden, Garden of Life

and Moonlit Garden ...

Blackbird Designs... Their Song...

30ct Apple Brown Bindy Linen by R & R

Weeks Dye Works Threads...

The Workbasket ... Bunny Parade

Hands to Work ... Be Not Weary

Lynne Nicoletti - The Velveteen Rabbit...

The Yankee Stitcher - Midnight Stroll...

Fat Half Cashel Apple Brown Bindy by R & R ...

Fat Half Cashel Dark Cappuccino by R & R ...

Belle Soie Silks by Crescent Colours...

{for Irish Coffee by The Sampler Girl}

Needlepoint Inc. Silks

for In The Forest by La-D-Da

John James 28 platinum needles...

{my favourites}

And... now for a couple of stitching updates... :-) I am so loving stitching both of these... in fact all my current WIP's are a joy to stitch... I have made a few changes to Geranium House by CCN ... instead of stitching the border flowers and the house in white... I am using Rosy Glow by Crescent Colours... and the White Picket Fence is DMC 3866 instead of white... and I made my bird a wee blackbird using GAST Black Crow...

I was much further along on Easter Avenue by Glendon Place... I had most of the bunny's face stitched and then that dreaded frog decided to pay me a wee visit... so I had to frog all of that and most of what you see below... Alas... I am back to where I was a few days ago... oh, well... we must endeavour to persevere! :-)

Geranium House...

by Country Cottage Needleworks...

Stitched on 30ct Iced Cappuccino Linen

by R & R Reproductions...

with DMC, GAST and Crescent Colour Threads...

Easter Avenue by Glendon Place

Stitched on Moonglow...

Picture This Plus Cashel Linen...

with Weeks Dye Works Threads...

I'm away to catch up with a few of your blogs before I retire for the evening... It's taken me forever to post this entry... And it's back to work tomorrow and with all of this rain... I am so not looking forward to it... Oh well, tomorrow is another day...

My deepest, heartfelt thanks to you, my dear friends, for all your lovely, kind and encouraging comments... they are ever warm rays of sunshine dancing through the mists...

Until next time... Love in Stitches...


I am thankful for precious moments... the stitching faery... and dear friends...

I'm late... I'm late...

For a very important date... with my bed that is! ;-) I can remember when I was a kid and saw Alice In Wonderland for the first time and was so enthralled with the White Rabbit... I thought he was the most amazing creature! I've since wondered if he somehow implanted a subliminal message that lies buried somewhere deep in my subconscious... for it never fails that I am late for something, somewhere, sometime... if not all the time! lol... Not intentionally mind you, no, it is never planned, as I do run around willy-nilly much like the Rabbit on his mad dash through the looking glass into Wonderland...and yes, I am sure it must be a comical site to behold... much akin to the Mad Hatter's Tea Party... Yet no matter how I may dash about... or plan ahead... it never fails I end up racing to my destination... clock/watch in hand... muttering *I'm late, I'm late* to myself along the way... Alas...only to end up racing through the door in the nick of time... or not! ;-)

And to add to my certainty that it truly must be my fate or destiny... is the memory of a picture my Mother had hanging in her kitchen when I was a teenager... It was a Lady Rabbit dressed in a frilly pink apron bustling about in her sweet country kitchen, broom in hand... dishes piled willy-nilly, et cetera... and printed on the picture were the words... *The hurrier I go the behinder I get*... I have since thought of this saying many, many times... amazed at how true it is for me. Now my Mother, mind you, is a stickler for punctuality... and she never has understood why I can not seem to accomplish this simple feat... hmmm... curiouser and curiouser...

Starting Easter Avenue brought all of this to the fore... and now that I think about it... I have quite a lot of rabbit charts in my stash... though this will be the first one I have stitched for myself... Oh, which reminds me... I fell in love with La-D-Da's In the Forest when it was released at Nashville... The stash faery dropped the chart and fabby off last week.... I'm just waiting on the Needlepoint Silks... :-) I am so in love with this design... My first two thoughts when I saw it of course were the White Rabbit from AIW ... as well as Harvey from the Jimmy Stewart film... Oh, I love that film... I always have... Hmmmm I wonder why? I also have on order The Bunny Parade by The Workbasket and Easter Parade by BlackBird Designs ... {You can see a lovely WIP of this one on Vonna's blog...} and there is no telling how many other bunny charts I have in my stash... If I see one I love, it goes on my Wish List or immediately into my collection... And the weird thing about it is that it really didn't dawn on me that I was slowly building a collection of bunny related charts until the other day when my order came and I sat drooling over In The Forest and Easter Avenue... Hmmmm... curiouser and curiouser... this could be getting rather serious... ;-)

Rabbits seem to have followed me throughout my life in some form or fashion... my eldest son's fave books as a child were Alice In Wonderland, The Velveteen Rabbit and Home for a Bunny {as well as Snow White... no rabbits there tho'}... I can't tell you how many times I read them to him, as he never grew tired of hearing the stories... many is the time I'd finish Home for a Bunny and he'd beg me to read it again... one more time, Momma... please, one more time... My youngest son's favourite cartoon throughout child-hood and to this day, is Bugs Bunny... and my daughter has begged me for years to buy some bunnies for pets... but with all of our cats... I'd so hate to traumatise the wee darlings... thus I have resisted the temptation...

Oh, my... but I have rambled yet again... and must now hurry to my bed as it's midnight and my alarm will start chiming at 4:00 AM for work... So without further ado... my progress on Easter Avenue... it's not much, but I am so loving it! :-)

Thank you all for visiting... Your kind and lovely thoughts are ever rays of sunshine filtering through the mist...

Until next time... Love in stitches...

I am thankful for precious moments and precious memories... and bunnies... mythical or otherwise... for who's to say what is real?

The Stash Faery strikes again...

Wooooo Hoooo.... two new beginnings for me! I started The Chocolate Shoppe by Little House Needleworks and Easter Avenue by Glendon Place on Wednesday... I haven't had a chance to stitch a lot on them yet... but I have started and that's a beginning... ;-) I had to work Wednesday and Thursday, and it was fairly hectic both days... I just don't understand why folks can't live in peace... Oh well, suffice it to say, I didn't have a lot of stitching time... Today, I had to go grocery shopping, and had a few errands to run and then there was housework.... mind you I didn't do too much of that! lol Just some laundry and tidyed up a wee bit here and there... and it was my dear daughter, Brandy's birthday... :-) So, needless to say, I haven't so much as picked up my needle! Not to fret as tomorrow is another day... and I have both it and Sunday free... So, can you guess how I'll be spending the rest of my weekend off? ;-)

The Stash Faery dropped off the stash for my two new projects last week... along with some other early birthday stash of which I will share piccys in a couple of days... I'm still waiting on some fabby to go with a couple of projects... I just love keeping you all in suspense! ;-)

The Chocolate Shoppe by Little House Needleworks...

Vintage Country Mocha Cashel with DMC Threads

and Antique Gold Kreinik #4 Braid

LHN The Chocolate Shoppe... Started 13th March 2007

Easter Avenue by Glendon Place...

Moonglow Cashel Picture This Plus Linen

Weeks Dye Works and DMC Threads...

I'm loving working on both of these... I didn't have time to sitch on Easter Avenue at all on Thursday... so will show a progress piccy of it tomorrow as I only got a few stitches in on it on Wednesday... I'm loving both of these! The fabby is gorgeous and the colours in both designs are so lovely... Easter Avenue is so Springy and I must say, it's such a cheerful stitch! :-)

Sally and Sue I wish you had the time to stitch CCN's Geranium House with me... You just may be tempted once you see it... ;-) I can't believe I'm starting so many new projects... hehehe And I'm also going to start Spring Has Come by The Prairie Schooler this Wednesday! lol Yes, daft I know!

Well, I guess I should go for now... I haven't been sleeping well the last several weeks and it's beginning to take it's toll ... last night I finally slept about 7 hours... but Tuesday and Wednesday I only slept a total of five hours for both nights! Needless to say, I was exhausted... and those long 12 hour work days seemed to drag on forever... Yet, as tired as I was, I just could not go to sleep... Oh well, I'm away to my bed now and hopefully will have a nice long and restful sleep so I can catch up with my stitching and blogging tomorrow and Sunday! :-)

Thanks for all the tips on uploading piccys... I'm going to try uploading from photobucket or webshots and see what happens! lol Hopefully, it will work... And thank you all for visiting... Your kind and lovely thoughts bring sunbeams of happiness to my days...

***Edited to add... Well, uploading the piccys did not work... sigh... I tried uploading them from my PC into my Wish List blog... and it worked just fine... but when I uploaded them here it did not work at all! I just don't get it! I'll try again tomorrow as I'm fed up just now and away to my bed....***

***Edited again to add... Okay, so I had an idea and could not rest until I tried it... I went back to my Wish List blog and rearranged the photos and it seems if you click and drag your photos to a different spot in your post once you've downloaded them the automatic link in blogger will not work... Hmmmm so how the bloody heck does one go about beating this? I know you don't have to have all your photos at the top of your post... Good grief, I've seen blogs with clickable photos that showed full size and they were not all at the top of the post! I tried uploading from photobucket... but the fabric in the smaller size piccy in the post looked distorted... That's it! I am away to my bed this time!***

***Yes, I know I am completely daft! I just had to come back and link the piccys I uploaded from my PC to the piccys I had uploaded in photobucket... that will have to do.... Woooo Hooo I tested it and that seems to work just fine! :-) This time I really am away to my bed... nite-nite all...***

Until next time... Love in Stitches...

I am thankful for precious moments... starting new projects and the Stash Faery...

The Stash Faery strikes again...

Wooo Hoooo... I've got eight entire days off... now whatever shall I do with myself! ;-) My plans are to do absolutely nothing but stitch and watch movies, read, blog, catch up with my emails and relax... And today was an excellent start... when I wasn't wandering about the house in a daze, still not daring to believe I don't have to work this week, I stitched a wee bit and plundered through all my stash wondering what to stitch next... ;-) piddled about on the computer, I had loads of photos to scan and it took forever... and I watched or rather listened to The Academy Awards whilst scanning... I must admit it was glorious doing nothing... ;-)

New Snow is coming along nicely... not as much progress as I would like, but I'm getting there. We were busy the last two days at work so I didn't get to stich as much as I would have liked and on days I'm working I do not have time to stitch in the evenings... so today was the only real time I've had to stitch... I wonder if I should dare say I may even finish it this week... lol I've got to stitch my JCS ornament for this month... Yes, I know I've only got three days left, so tomorrow I'll be starting on The Prairie Schooler's Winter Ornament from the JCS Ornament Issue 2006... And I also want to join in on The Chocolate Shoppe SAL at the LHN and CCN stitching group... The Stash Faery surprised me with the chart, a fat quarter of Vintage Country Mocha Cashel Linen and the threads on Friday... so, all I have to do is start... ;-)

Little House Needleworks...

Ye Olde Chocolate Shoppe

And I leave you with a piccy of New Snow by Glendon Place... A lot of you have raved about the fabric... and it is gorgeous... I'm stitching it on the recommended fabric which is Jazz Cashel Linen by Picture This Plus... the scans really don't do it justice... :-)

Thank you all for stopping by... your kind thoughts and comments are sparkling rays of sunshine in my days... :-)

Until new time... Love in stitches...

I am thankful for precious moments, the stash faery and blessed days off...

Frogs and Princes...

You know, when you are off for a couple of days you think... Yes! Finally, I can get something accomplished... Not!

It all stared yesterday morning when I decided to call my Internet provider and make sure we had the fastest DSL connection they offer around here... I seemed to vaguely remember reading something from them about a faster connection now offered in my neck of the wilderness... So, I thought.... Hmmmm... Now I could certainly get into flying a wee bit faster through cyberspace... Just think of the time it would save! Brilliant idea... or so I thought...

Nope... we did not have the fastest connection... So, I of course asked the nice lady to please upgrade our service... Mistake... Within five minutes of our conversation, I had no Internet connection... So... computer savvy lady that I am, I tried everything I could think of before calling Tech Support, just in case it was a malfunction on my end... It was not, and Tech Support didn't seem so Technical savvy at all... My *problem* was given a ticket and shuffled on to an engineer in the field with the assurance that my Internet would be up and running later that day... Hmmmm... Sounds promising doesn't it?

Well, the day progressed and still no Internet... so I called back and was shuffled around a bit and finally told the *ticket* was *out there* and someone would fix my problem by the end of the day... Hmmm I was beginning to wonder, nonetheless, I spent the time stitching and piddling about the house... Finally, it's 8:00 in the evening and still no Internet... By this time, I was getting a wee bit nervous, to say the least... So, once again I braved the Tech Support line and this time I was told it would most likely be first thing in the morning before an engineer got to my *ticket*... Disappointed that there would be no blogging nor emails for me... I decided I would stitch for a while longer and have an early night...

Morning dawned bright and sunny and I eagerly grabbed a cup of coffee before rushing in to check on my computer... alas... still no Internet... By this time, I was really beginning to worry... So, yet again I braved the Tech Support line and the nice lady told me not to worry... the engineers would get to my *ticket* today for sure! I was not impressed! So, I cleaned up the house a wee bit and did some laundry... Still no Internet... Deciding to make the best of my time I got out my stitching and settled down to watch*Beowulf and Grendel* and stitch for a while... I enjoyed the film and I was so pleased with all the stitching I had accomplished in the last two days... So, in fairly good humour, I braved the Tech Support line yet again... This time I was told the *engineer* had closed my ticket as they had no access to homeowner... No access! But I was here all day... they did not knock upon my door... nor did they ring my house.... and furthermore I had been told the problem was on their end, so why should they need access to homeowner??? Now my *ticket* would have to be re-opened and it would most likely be tomorrow before they got to it, however the nice gentleman did advise he was expediting my order and adding several notes to it... Hmmmm I was not amused in the least... Nonetheless, I still had hope and settled down with my stitching, a hot cup of coffee, a cat or two and my new Beauty and the Beast Season One DVD's... I was sure a nice dose of a few of my favourite things would help get me through this most trying time... ;-)

That's when the frog decided to show his handsome green face... alas, most of my stitching from the last two days had to be frogged!!!! Oh, horrors! Fuming, I decided to call Tech Support again... after all it was all their fault the frog decided to hop onto my lily pad and I was not going to take this sitting down! I was nice, yet firm and before long I had a supervisor on the line and he in turn got in touch with a Senior Tech, who solved my Internet problem with the touch of a few keys... Humph! So much for engineers in the field! Needless to say... he was a Prince among computer techs... A genius in the world of software engineering... A beacon in the darkness of cyberspace.... I finally had my Internet service back... I could Blog... go blinkie hunting... read emails... browse stitching shoppes... Oh, Joy, Rapture... but wait... I'm forgetting something...

Alas... the frog... my mind would not rest until I got rid of him for good... So, I resisted the hypnotic call of cyberspace and settled back down with Beauty and the Beast, my stitching and that dratted green frog... I think I finally managed to send him packing back to his own lily pad and managed to re-stitch about half of what I had stitched in the past two days... Yet through it all I have done no blogging, read no emails, done no window stitching shoppe shopping... nor anything else of cyberspace interest...

However, I will prevail... tomorrow is another day and as long as that dratted green frog stays on his own lily pad, I'll be fine... As for Princes... hmmmmm that's another story and I'm not referring to the Computer Tech either... ;-)

I leave you with a scan of my frogged *New Snow by Glendon Place*... Hopefully, I'll have more to show for my stitching efforts next time... ;-)

Thank you all for stopping by... Your kind and thoughtful words brighten my days and help chase away the froggy blues... :-)

Until next time... Love in stitches...

I am thankful for precious moments and my own handsome prince...

Sleepless at the North Pole...

...so I have been visiting blogs and drooling over everyone's lovely finishes and WIP's and trying to think warm, *roaring fire in a fireplace* thoughts... ;-) *thus far, the visualization is not proving effective... ;-)*

It's Baltic here and I think I am slowly freezing... even though I am wrapped up like I'm trekking through snow drifts at the North Pole... lol My hands are like ice as this room is the coldest in the house and my coffee will not stay hot in my mug... which is most annoying as I detest cold coffee... unless it's a Frappuccino of course and then it's okay! Yeah, weird, I know... ;-)

I haven't stitched a lot this week and I can tell as I'm beginning to get a wee bit stressed about it... Hopefully, I'll make up for it tomorrow as I plan to make a lot of progress with *New Snow*... Thus far, I've been plodding along much akin to the tortoise... and I'll soon have to stop working on it so I can stitch my ornament for the JCS Monthly Ornie SAL... This month we're stitching The Prairie Schooler's Winter Ornament... It's a beautiful piece and hopefully will stitch up quickly... :-)

As promised, I'm sharing a photo of my wee bit of progress on *New Snow*... I'm stitching it on Jazz Picture This Plus Cashel Linen with Wilflowers, Treasure Braid and DMC threads...

Thank you all for visiting... Your kind and lovely thoughts are a constant source of sunshine and inspiration...

Until next time... Love in stitches...

I am thankful for precious moments, roaring fires in the fireplace and hot coffee...

Another Weekend Gone...

And Still no stitchy Happy Dance... I worked on my blog some more today and I think I am finally satisfied with the end results! :-) Of course I'll probably end up tweaking it here and there and I know I'll be adding more things as I go along... Anyway, it's a start! So, I can Happy Dance about that... Wooo Hoooo! ;-)

I worked on my Dragon Dreams ornament some more late this afternoon and this evening while I was watching The Illusionist! What a great movie... I loved it! If you haven't seen it yet you should as it's the best movie I've seen in a while. I still haven't made it to see Eragon yet and most likely will not get to the Cinema to see it... so will have to wait until it comes out on DVD... :-( It's just not any fun going to watch a movie alone.

Anyway, back to my stitching... I'm almost done with the Fuzzy Stuff on Santa's Coat and then that's it... Finally... It will be nice to have a finish! Then I'll finish my Full Circle - A Christmas Blessing and then... drum roll please... I'll be starting something new! LOL I want to stitch a snowman for the SAL this month at STO... I've picked out the freebie, Baby It's Cold Outside by The Useful Needle... It looks like a quick stitch... Now if I can just get it all done by the end of the month. I also want to start New Snow by Glendon Place this month. I got the fabby, threads and chart from Drema at Needlecraft Corner last week and I can't wait to get started. It's gorgeous! And the fabric is so pretty.... Here's a piccy if you haven't seen it yet...

Anyway, I've got to get ready for bed now as 4:00 AM will be here before I know it. :-( It's been raining since this afternoon... They were calling for it to turn to Ice or Freezing Rain... I know it's cold enough to freeze... I guess we'll see what the conditions are when I get up in the morning... May have to call out the troops to come and take me to work! LOL I just hope if it's freezing tomorrow folks stay at home so there aren't alot of accidents and such... Well, I'm off to bed... and hopefully, I'll be posting my Dragon Dreams finish tomorrow night!

Until next time... Happy Stitching...